Xi Jinping, Barack Obama pledge to implement pact

In phone call with Xi, Obama said cooperation with China on climate change vital

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his United States counterpart Barack Obama, the leaders of the world’s two biggest polluters, pledged to work together to implement the climate deal adopted in Paris in a phone call Monday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said.

Cheering envoys from 195 nations approved a historic accord in the French capital at the weekend to try to address global warming, offering hope that humanity can avert catastrophic climate change and usher in an energy revolution.

China is willing to work with the relevant parties, including the US, to maintain coordination and cooperation to ensure the effective implementation of the Paris agreement, Mr Xi was paraphrased as telling Mr Obama by the ministry.

China was also willing to “expand bilateral pragmatic cooperation to deal with climate change,” the statement said, citing Mr Xi.

The Chinese foreign ministry paraphrased Mr Obama as saying that the United States is willing to work together with China and all parties to ensure the agreement will go into effect and be implemented.

The White House said in a statement that Mr Obama “emphasised the importance of continuing close US-China cooperation on climate change issues into the future” in the phone conversation with Mr Xi.

China and the United States are the world’s two largest carbon emitters, though China is estimated to have released nearly twice as much as the United States, and around two-and-a-half times the European Union.

The Asian giant pledged in 2014 to peak carbon dioxide output by “around 2030” — suggesting at least another decade of growing emissions.

The Paris agreement, set to come into force post 2020, ends decades-long conflicts between rich and poor nations over how to carry out what will be a multi-trillion-dollar campaign to curb global warming and cope with the impact of a shifting climate.

With 2015 forecast to be the hottest year on record, world leaders and scientists had said the accord was vital for capping rising temperatures and averting the most calamitous effects of climate change.